Investment banking compensation: Global divide

As regulation on bonuses at investment banks in Europe advances, the effects are being felt in Brazil, albeit slowly

By Katie Llanos-Small

The highly contentious debate raging in Europe over investment
bankers’ pay has yet to reach the mainstream in
Brazil. Even so, its effects are already being felt there.

At all levels of the pay scale, the amount investment
bankers take home at the end of the month can vary dramatically
in Brazil according to the nationality of the institutions they
work for.

This is because of rates of deferred compensation: bankers
at Brazilian institutions are likely to have a higher
proportion of their pay in cash than their competitors down the
road employed by a European or US bank.

Those working for European banks typically have the largest
proportion of their pay handed to them in stocks. This is
primarily a result of regulators at home tightening the rules
on what these institutions can pay out. European authorities
are in advanced stages of drawing up rules that...